The Liquor That Broke the Stereotype of Soju Being Green and Beer Being Brown

Hello everyone! When you think of ‘liquor bottles’, what color comes to mind? I think of green soju bottles and brown beer bottles. Today, I'm going to explore the background of why liquor bottles have these colors and introduce some products that are using uniquely shaped bottles.

First, we need to understand why liquor companies use the same color bottles, right? In the case of beer, in 2009, liquor companies entered into a voluntary agreement for the common use of soju bottles for environmental protection and cost reduction. The ‘Voluntary Agreement on the Common Use of Soju Bottles’ was an agreement among soju manufacturers to use the same size and design of 360ml soju bottles. Generally, soju bottles can be reused about 7 times. When empty bottles are returned from pubs or convenience stores, they undergo a recycling process before being reused. For manufacturers, the higher the bottle recycling rate, the lower the production cost, making it a win-win agreement.

Jinro Is Back

The agreement was broken and uniquely shaped bottles began to appear in 2019 with the launch of ‘Jinro Is Back’ by Hite Jinro. Jinro adopted a retro concept, starting to use a transparent sky-blue bottle with a silver twist cap. The liquor industry criticized it for violating the agreement, but Jinro Is Back gained popularity and became a leading soju brand. Jinro boasts a clean and smooth taste with zero sugar and an alcohol content of 16%. Following Jinro, uniquely shaped bottles became a trend, and now various liquors using them are being sold. Let's take a look at some of the products.

Sero

Following Jinro, Lotte Chilsung Beverage launched Sero. Using clear glass to give it a clean image, Sero uses a transparent color and vertical lines to express Baekja, a type of porcelain. Sero is also described as a refreshing and smooth soju with 16% alcohol and zero sugar. It's also noteworthy that it adds distilled soju to diluted soju. Its unique, pretty bottle and smooth taste have definitely made it popular, particularly among women.

Crush

Finally, let me introduce Crush. Crush also breaks the mold of previous beer bottles. The reason why beer is usually made in dark colors like brown or green is ultraviolet rays. The hops in beer can deteriorate when exposed to ultraviolet rays, so dark-colored bottles were used. Nowadays, hops can be specially processed, or ultraviolet ray blocking coating can be applied to the glass, making it possible to use transparent glass. Crush not only features transparency but also eliminates the shoulder shape and has been cut about 40 times to create a crystal-like shape. It's a pretty design that MZ generation would love, wouldn't you agree?

In fact, the use of uniquely shaped bottles is not something to welcome wholeheartedly. The Voluntary Agreement on the Common Use of Soju Bottles has various benefits, including resource conservation and reduced carbon dioxide emissions, so there seems to be a lot of concern about breaking this agreement. Between brand individuality and bottle recycling, what do you think is more important? This concludes today's story. Thank you for reading as always :)